Church baptizes in creek

Baker County- Members of the Bellmount Missionary Baptist church gather to witness the baptism of 27 year old Brad Marcus.

"I just wanted to join the church and get closer and closer to God," he says.

But instead of being dipped into the heated pool at the church, he chose be baptized in the flowing waters of Chickasawhatchee Creek.

"The only difference to myself is that this is a part of our history and our past, and don't get me wrong I love the indoor pools, and we've performed several in the indoor pools also, but this is just a part of our roots," Pastor Jimmie Fair, Sr. says.

"That's the way they did it back in the bible days and Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, and so this is a tradition that we try to hang on to," adds Howard Webb.

Like Marcus, the members of Bellmount have been opting to come to Chickasawhatchee for decades, and some say they think all churches should bring baptisms back to nature.

"Every so often I think they should go back and remember how they used to do it a long time ago," Webb says.

"We've moved away, but we've never forgotten. In our hearts we'll always be centered around this tradition, and our great heritage and our past," says Fair.